Draft-rigging for railway-cars



W1 TNESSES:

J. F. O'CONNOR.

DRAFT RIGGING FOR RAlLWAY CARS.

' APPLICATION FILED MAY 21. 191?.

Patented June 17, 1919..

2 SHEETS-SHEET J. F. OCONNOR.

DRAFT meme FDR RAILWAY was ,APPLICATION FILED MAY 21. 1917. 1,307,310, Patented June 17, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

0 0/241? (Zmzzaf ATTO Y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN F. OCONNOR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR 'IO WILLIAM H. MINER, OF CIIAZY,

' NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

DRAFT-RIGGING FOB, RAILWAY-CARS.

Patented June 17, 1919.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN F; OCoNNoR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Draft-Rigging for Railway-Oars, of which the following is a full,'clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying draw ings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements for draft riggings for railway cars.

One of the objects of my invention is-to provide an efiicient draft rigging.

Another object is to provide a friction spring draft rigging that can-be mounted in the usual tandem draft rigging side parts are shown in "their-normal position.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section showing the position of the parts when the draft gear is compressed. =Fig. l is a cross section, taken on line 14 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 'is a perspective View of one of theshells. V

In the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates draft members or parts of the car frame to which the draft rigging is applied." Tandem draft rigging side plates are indicated by the numerals 1111. These plates are of a usual type suitably secured to the draft members having the front stop shoulders 1212, the front limiting stops 13, the middle post 14 providing the middle stop shoulders 15 and 16, the rear limiting stop 17 and the rear stop shoulder 18.

The draft gear consists of three principal units, longitudinally arranged, the front unit being indicated at 19, the middle unit at 20 and the rear unit at 21. The front unit 19 comprises a rearwardly opening cage 22 having the springs 23 mounted therein. At its rear end it is provided with the wedging faces 24-24. The rear unit 21 is similar to the front unit and comprises a forwardly opening cage 25 with the springs 26 mounted therein, the said cage having at its forward end the wedging faces 27 -27 The middle unit 20 comprises a collapsible cage 30 having an upper member 31 and a lower member 32 with the springs 33 mounted between the'same. The members 31 and 32 are provided at their ends with outer wedging faces 31 adapted to engagethe wedging faces 24l24 of the front shell and the wedging faces 27--27 of the rear shell. The said members 31 and 32 of the central unit 20 are also providedwith the inner wedging faces 3535 at their front and rear ends which are adapted. to be engaged at the forward end by the front wedge 36 and at the rear end by the rear wedge 37. The rear springs 26 are sea ted between the rear wedge 37 and the closed end of the-rear shell, and the forward springs 23 are seated between the front wedge 36 and the closed edge of the front shell.

The draw bar isindicated at '39, having a yoke 40 secured thereto by any suitable means, as for instance, the rivets 41-41. The draft gear units 19, 20 and. 21 are mounted in the. draft gear pocket 42 of the yoke. The front shell is provided with the front followermember 43 and the rear follower member 44. :The rear shell is provided withthe rear follower member 45' and the front follower member 46. On rearward movement of the draw bar, thefront; shell is moved rearwardly and the rearshell is held against longitudinal movement against the rear stop shoulders, the springsin the front and rear units 19 and 21 being compressed, and the collapsible central unit 20 comes into action, the members 31 and 32 thereof being through their wedging engagement with the inner ends of the shells forced toward each other and the front and rear wedges 36 and 37 being forced away from each other and against the front and rear sets of springs, respectively, the central springs 33 being meanwhile compressed in the approach of the member 31 toward the member 32 in the collapsible middle unit- 20 of the shell.

On forward movement the rear unit 21 will be drawn forwardly, the front unit 19 will be stopped against the front stop members and the action of the parts will be similar to that occurring in bufling movement.

It will be observed that by virtue of the arrangement shown, the said gear may be mounted in tand'em draft gear side castings with which many cars are provided. Many of said castings have a middle post 1% that is deeper than the end post, as most clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, and that the space between the inner faces of the posts, referenced at at? in Fig. 2 of the drawings, is narrower than the space in which the front and rear units of the gear are mounted, and that by reason of my invention, a compression resisting unit of considerable power can be mounted in this space between the front and rear units 19 and 21, respectively.

It will also be observed that on rearward movement of the draw bar the rear follower 15 of the rear unit 21 is engaged against the rear stop shoulders 18 and its front follower 46 is engaged against the rear limiting stops distributing the shock to four different points until on extreme rearward movement of the draw bar, the front follower 13 of the front unit 19 will engage the front limiting stops and its rear follower l4 will engage the middle post distributing the ultimate shock of the gear, when under full compression, to eight different points upon the draft members and this without employing any central thimble in the yoke or placing any portion of the yoke or its connection to the draw bar under shear.

It will also be observed, as most clearly shown in Fig. l of the drawings, that in normal position of the parts the separating travel of the members 31 and 32 of the central unit 20 is limited through their engagement against the limbs of the yoke, against which they are pressed by the spring 33. The gear is supported between the sills by the carrier-plates 4848, which are preferably removably secured to the draft members, as for instance, by the bolts 4C9-4L9.

It will be observed that upon full movement of the draft gear, the parts of the collapsible shell will engage each other, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, forming a solid column between the front and rear shells through which shocks received at one end of the draft gear may be directly transmitted throughout the length of the gear without the interposition of any connecting member between the yoke lengths intermediate their ends.

I claim:

In a friction shock absorbing mechanism, the combination with two end friction shells relatively movable toward and from each other, of a central collapsible shell, springs in each of said three shells, the springs in the end shells having their axes extending parallel to the axes of said end shells, said collapsible shell comprising a pair of friction elements extending in directions parallel to the axes of said end shells, the ends of said elements and the opposed inner ends of said end shells having cooperating friction wedge faces always in engagement with each other, the two elements of said collapsible shell approaching each other in dircctions at right angles to the line of relative approach of said end shells during compression of the mechanism, said two elements engaging each other upon full compression of the mechanism while the end shells are separated thus adapting the collapsible shell to act as an interposed column between said end shells, a wedge-shaped follower at the end of each end spring adjacent the coll apsible shell, the ends of said friction elements forming the collapsible shell having also wedge faces directly engaging said wedgeshaped followers to thereby compress said end springs axially.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 80th day of April, 1917.

JOHN F. OCONNOR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

